Monday - Nov. 4, 2024 - A fish-friendly water pump

Tyler Olsen November 04, 2024

🌧 High 11C | Highway winter storm warning | Special weather statement

Good morning!

Today’s not going to be one of those annoying “ask the readers for money” introductions. Instead, I have something special: I’m just asking you to spend a few minutes of your time to do a survey! Wait! Stop! I know companies—grocery stores are particularly bad—bombard people with requests to fill out surveys for the chance to win some prize. This isn’t like that. OK, it’s exactly like that. But we aren’t Walmart.

If you fill out our reader survey, you will be entered in a draw to win a $100 gift certificate from Field House Brewing (which, it should be noted, has locations in both Chilliwack and Abbotsford and also non-beer products to buy). But more importantly, you’ll help both guide the future of The Current and also help support our future growth. (I wouldn’t plead here if it didn’t have a journalistic payoff.)

You see, we are not some social media company that knows everything about our users, right down to how much toilet paper they use. And that puts us at a large disadvantage when it comes to activities like selling ads—money from which is essential if we hope to grow our publication. So learning a little bit more about our readership is quite important. Please, take the survey here. It will really help.

– Tyler

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🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope (We have had to temporarily change our forecast links to the Weather Network due to a technical error.)

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

Abbotsford council will weigh in on the future of Mill Lake Park at its Tuesday meeting. 📷 City of Abbotsford

Abbotsford’s most beloved park could get an off-leash dog area, disc golf course, expanded spray park, and permanent stage. But its beloved boardwalk may eventually be replaced by a land-based trail segment and pier.

As part of long-term plans to improve the park, City of Abbotsford staff and consultants have created a concept plan that they will present to council on Tuesday. The plan is the latest phase of a process that began more than a year ago, when the city floated three different concepts for the future of the park.

Feedback to those concepts suggested respondents desperately wanted to keep the park’s boardwalk and swimming pool. There was also strong support for adding a dog park and disc golf course, and the reconstruction of the rail trestle that once dominated the west end of the park. The new plan hopes to satisfy some of that feedback. But the next era for the jewel of Abbotsford’s park system isn’t likely to satisfy everyone.

Today, Tyler writes about the new vision for Mill Lake Park and which elements did and didn’t make the grade.

Q&A: Mill Lake boardwalk future still uncertain, Siemens says

From last week: In an interview, Abbotsford's mayor said the federal government needs to take part in international talks regarding the Nooksack River

☔ A storm is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to the west coast [CTV] / The Nooksack River is not expected to rise significantly [NOAA]

🏀 A trans basketball player said an Abbotsford Columbia Bible College coach questioned her right to play and told players to target her during a recent game [CTV]

🔎 RCMP are looking for the driver of a Mercedes who may have seen a missing Langley woman driving on Hicks Lake Road [Langley Advance Times] / The family of Jane Whitehouse, who went missing in late October, is asking residents in the eastern Fraser Valley to search their properties [Missing: Jane Whitehouse/Facebook]

🚑 A Mission worker was seriously injured when a piece of metal fell on him at his job site [CityNews]

👉 Hundreds of people attended a pow wow at Hope Secondary School [Hope Standard]

🚓 Police arrested a man after he allegedly shot a gun into a Chilliwack townhouse Friday [CTV]

🏏 A teen allegedly hit a Mission RCMP officer in the head with a baton on Halloween; around 300 youths were gathered near Griner Park [Mission Record]

⚖ A dangerous offender who sexually assaulted a three-month-old baby in 1997 is seeking escorted leave from Fraser Valley Institution in Abbotsford [Fraser Valley Today]

🚃 If you want an old SkyTrain car, you can apply to get one from Translink, which is retiring its original fleet [Miss604]

🚒 Construction on Brookswood’s new fire hall is expected to finish in 2026 [Langley Advance Times]

The Chilliwack Creek Pump Station is due for an upgrade to help it stay seismically sound. 📷 Google Maps

The City of Chilliwack will have a plan in place to upgrade its Chilliwack Creek Pump Station by the end of 2025, although construction will not get underway until much later.

The City of Chilliwack has three main drainage pumps. Two of those, the McGillivray Pump Station and the Collinson Pump Station, have recently been upgraded to increase their capacity. The Chilliwack Creek Pump Station, located on Schweyey Road at the Town Dike, is the largest drainage pump station in the city but has not been upgraded in some time. These drainage pump stations—like the much larger pump station at Barrowtown in Abbotsford—manage the flow of water into and out of the Fraser River from Chilliwack’s sloughs and drainage ditches.

The station was first built 75 years ago, and has had regular maintenance. However, the city is hoping to make the pump more seismically sound—and potentially make it more fish-friendly, to allow salmon to swim past the station to the streams beyond.

The project has been funded from UBCM’s Disaster Risk Reduction-Climate Adaptation program. The first phase of the project, which included engineering, archeological, and environmental assessments, was funded by the same program in 2022.

The second phase of the project will include hydraulic modeling, seismic reviews, an analysis of mechanical and structural design requirements, and civil engineering pre-design works. The city has now put out a request for proposals to three companies that expressed interest earlier. The RFP will close on Nov. 20, with the preliminary design work being completed by Dec. 15, 2025.

Once the preliminary designs are finished, Chilliwack will be able to move forward with the upgrades themselves—funding permitting.

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As part of a membership, you get our special weekend roundup of all the things you might’ve missed each week!

• Sexual health and blood borne infection case management outreach worker at Fraser Health in Chilliwack

• “Tobacco” picker at Tricanna Industries in Mission

• Mixologist at Stallones in Hope

• Pre-board screening officer at Paladin Airport Security Services in Abbotsford

• Event committee member at Big Brothers Big Sisters in Langley

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

Drag bingo: Drag star Hailey Adler hosts Drag Queen Bingo at Sidekick Brewing in Chilliwack on the first Wednesday of the month. Participants pay $5 for two cards, with proceeds going to the Chilliwack Pride Society. Details online.

Blippi in concert: Children's performer Blippi comes to Abbotsford Centre on Friday, Nov. 8 at 6pm as part of its Join The Band Tour. Details and tickets online.

Writers workshop: The Mission Library hosts a writers' critique group each Monday from 6-7:30pm. Fiction, non-fiction, and poetry projects are welcome. Details online.

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More buses coming to Fraser Valley route as site bought for new Chilliwack storage yard

From October: As riders flock to regional bus, BC Transit is struggling to keep up with demand

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